what to do about these paint blemishes?

[zzyzx85]

I just recently got a '99 Corolla from a lady who loved to drive. Unfortunately, this led to a lot of chips. And one particularly bad paint "boo-boo" on the corner of the front bumper. I'm wondering what I can do about them for now, before I save up enough to get it fixed by a paint shop.

First off is the hood. These are the usual chips you get from flying debris on the highway. Most of them are down to the gray primer. My dad wants to get a bottle of touch up paint but I would rather get the proper equipment to fix it correctly, which we are lacking. Should I just wax over them to protect it?

Now for the bad part, the bumper. Apparently, she hit something with the corner of her bumper, popping it in. She managed to pop it back out but all the paint is crackled. Right now, there's a good 5" diameter plastic bare spot on the corner of my bumper, surrounded by crackled and flaking paint. Is there anything I can do about it for now, other than taking it in to a paint/body shop?

[humanoid]

It sounds as if the whole car needs to be repainted. If the chips are down to the primer and the paint has cracked on the bumper, there's not much you can do to repair it apart from a repaint. Either do what your dad suggests, repaint or live with it.

[zzyzx85]

Thanks for the insight. Figures I need to get it repainted, especially in the case of the bumper cover. My dad wanted to buy the touch up paint not only for the hood but the bumper as well. I can see "touch-up" applying for the hood but that damn bumper needs more than just a "touch-up."

Anything I can do to protect the bare plastic from oxidizing/fading too much?

[humanoid]

Use some 303 Aerospace Protectant every month or so that should keep it protected.

[ToyotaJimD.]

You could clean the chips with isopropyl alcohol and a detail brush and let dry. Then touch them up one by one with factory-matched paint from the dealer or an auto parts store. It's been done before. If you Google Langka and look around at forums and whatnot, people have done this with success if you have some time and determination. The nice thing about Langka is it smoothes the blob you normally get.

The crushed bumper would require some touch-up paint as well, but you'd want to spray paint it with factory-matched touch-up. Dupli-Color's website has some pretty good FAQs and How-Tos.

Of course, your level of success will depend on the condition of the rest of the paint, your artistic ability if you will, and how much time you have.

But really, getting half the car painted because of some chips will cost more than the car's worth, so you don't have too much to lose.